Republik
Where:
217 Florida Road, Morningside
Open:
Monday 11.30am to 10.30pm, Tuesday to Friday 7.30am to 10.30pm, Sunday 7.30am to 5pm
Call:
071 413 4863
One of Durban’s premier burger bars opened in a rapidly changing Florida Road last month much to the excitement of the city’s hipsters.
Set up in the old bank building, the design is chic and trendy and the vibe on a Tuesday night was buzzy. Waiters are friendly and craft beer flows.
We started with a mixed platter of bar snacks which the menu said contained sausages, chicken wings and jalepeno poppers and we also ordered a portion of mac and cheese balls. Sadly the platter came with more mac and cheese balls and no sausages. I say sadly because these were tasteless and grim. The chicken wings were pleasant though.
Not the world’s greatest fan of the ubiquitous burger, I took a “when in Rome” view and ploughed into creating my own.
First you choose your base - traditional with a roll (R60), a no roll burger (R55), or a hipster burger on a giant mushroom (R65). Then comes your patty. Options range from beef, to chicken, to vegetarian, to vegan to lamb (there’s a R20 surcharge for lamb). Sadly there was no lamb option which forced two of the carnivores onto the beef route.
Finally you top your burger with an array of sauces and toppings. These might include spicy guacamole or smoked brinjal mousse, bacon jam or jalapeno chutney. You can even add a mac-and-cheese patty or potato rosti. I opted for the more prosaic cheddar (R10), tomato chilli chutney (R10) and caramelised onions (R10). The resultant burger was a good flavourful creation and was cooked accurately to medium rare. It had been topped with the cherry tomatoes in balsamic rather than the tomato chilli chutney but I enjoyed these.
But it was the side dishes that were so disappointing, especially remembering what they were like when Republik first opened in Durban North some years back. I opted for the zucchini fries (R30) which were great big fat cigar like lumps rather than the crisp almost spaghetti like fries I remembered. A friend had the matchstick fries (R20) and these were not the super crisp creatures of memory, but were slightly soggy and cold.
All sides come with a choice of mayo that might take in barbeque or basil pesto or peri-peri. I opted for sweet chilli which was pleasant, but the honey mustard variety was more of a salad dressing.
Food:
2 ½
Service:
3
Ambiance:
3 ½